Forest Degradation and Economic Growth in Nepal, 2003–2010

Jean-Marie Baland, François Libois and Dilip Mookherjee

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: We investigate the relation between economic growth, household firewood collection and forest conditions in Nepal between 2003 and 2010. Co-movements in these are examined at the household and village levels, combining satellite imagery and household (Nepal Living Standard Measurement Survey) data. Projections of the impact of economic growth based on Engel curves turn out to be highly inaccurate: forest conditions remained stable despite considerable growth in household consumption and income. Firewood collections at the village level remained stable, as effects of demographic growth were offset by substantial reductions in per-household collections. Households substituted firewood by alternative energy sources, particularly when livestock and farm based occupations declined in importance. Engel curve specifications which include household productive assets (a proxy for occupational patterns) provide more accurate predictions. Hence structural changes accompanying economic growth play an important role in offsetting adverse environmental consequences of growth.

Keywords: Deforestation; Growth; Environmental Kuznets Curve; Nepal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-big, nep-dev and nep-env
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01713390
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Published in Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2018, 5 (2), pp.401 - 439. ⟨10.1086/695690⟩

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01713390/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Forest Degradation and Economic Growth in Nepal, 2003–2010 (2018)
Working Paper: Forest Degradation and Economic Growth in Nepal, 2003–2010 (2018)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01713390

DOI: 10.1086/695690

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().